“Saakashvili is a drug abuser” – Georgian opposition
An opposition member, and former Georgian State Minister, has accused President Saakashvili of being addicted to drugs.
“I can responsibly say that Saakashvili is a drug addict,” Georgi Khaindrava is quoted as saying by Interfax agency. “And so as not to sound baseless, I suggest that I take a blood drug test at a laboratory together with him.”
Also, the agency writes, the former State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues has accused the country’s Interior Minister of controlling drug traffic in Georgia.
“Vano Merabishvili is the main pusher in Georgia,” he claimed in an interview with Georgian newspaper Asaval-Dasavali.
The opposition member confessed that he used to take drugs in the past, but gave up quite a while ago.
Meanwhile it is not the first time that Khaindrava – one of the leaders of the “Protect Georgia” movement – has harshly criticized Georgian authorities. In November, Georgia Online wrote, he said that “drug addicts, criminals and prostitutes” rule Georgia and that the country “has to get rid of them”, adding that a revolution was unavoidable.
He is not the only one criticizing the government for alleged involvement of drug trafficking in Georgia. Giorgi Gachechiladze, the leader of an opposition Green Party, claimed last month that about seven tons of heroin comes to Europe via Georgian ports on the Black Sea – mainly through Poti. He is certain that such a development would not be possible without lobbyists and corruption.
As for Saakashvili’s alleged addiction, it has earlier been alluded to by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Following the war in South Ossetia which was launched by Georgia in August 2008, the Russian leader said:
“The Georgian head of state is not just a man we won’t do business with. He’s an unpredictable pathological and mentally unstable drug abuser. Western journalists who interviewed him not so long ago know it! A two-hour-long interview on a high – that’s over the edge for a head of state. If NATO needs such a leader – go ahead.”
